FDR, the Jews, and the Holocaust: Resolving the Controversy

Washington History Seminar
Historical Perspectives on International and National Affairs

FDR, the Jews, and the Holocaust: Resolving the Controversy

Allan Lichtman
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

Nearly seventy-five years after World War II, scholars hotly dispute whether FDR was a hero of the Jews or a bystander or worse to the Nazi’s persecution and slaughter of Jews. In this talk, Lichtman will draw upon the findings of his prize-winning book, FDR and the Jews (co-authored with Richard Breitman), to resolve the controversy. He will present a new portrait of a consummate politician—compassionate but also pragmatic—struggling with opposing priorities under perilous conditions.

Allan Lichtman is Distinguished Professor of History at American University in Washington, DC. He is the author of nine books and hundreds of scholarly and popular articles and has served as an expert witness in more than 80 voting and civil rights cases. His book, The Keys to the White House presents a historically based prediction system that has correctly forecast the outcome of the popular vote for president in all eight elections since 1984. His book, White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement, was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle award in non-fiction. FDR and the Jews won the National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish studies.  

Monday May 19, 2014
4:00 p.m.
Woodrow Wilson Center, 6th Floor Moynihan Board Room
Ronald Reagan Building, Federal Triangle Metro Stop

Report from the field: David Zierler, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

The seminar is sponsored jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Wilson Center. It meets weekly during the academic year. See www.nationalhistorycenter.org for the schedule, speakers, topics, and dates as well as webcasts and podcasts. The seminar thanks the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations for its support.